Health workers will resume the vaccination drive for polio with a target population of 200,000 children under 10 years old.

The second round for the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) will be from February 17 – 23, announced the City Health Office (CHO) during the press briefing at City Hall Monday, February 10.

City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Miravite said the eligible target population for the bOPV round 2 is 205,780 children under 10 years old.

The first round of the bOPV, held from January 6 – 12, was able to achieve 105% coverage.

A third bOPV immunization drive will be conducted from March 23 – April 4.

These polio vaccination drives are part of the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio initiative pursued by the Department of Health (DOH) and the CHO to prevent polio in the country, following a re-emergence of the virus last year.

Monovalent (mOPV) and bivalent (bOPV) oral polio vaccines are given to eligible children ages 5 years below (for mOPV) and 10 years below (for bOPV), regardless of immunizations status.

Several immunization rounds have already been completed earlier by local health workers.

For the mOPV, the two vaccination rounds achieved 103% (Round 1 – Nov. 25, 2019 to Dec. 7, 2019) and 110% coverage (Round 2 – January 20 to February 2).

Dr. Miravite requested parents and guardians to bring their children to health centers to be vaccinated and to cooperate with local health workers.  (Jasmine Mohammadsali)